


Finding Happiness

by musikurt



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-22
Updated: 2010-08-22
Packaged: 2017-11-03 04:43:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/377417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musikurt/pseuds/musikurt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry reflects on how he found unexpected happiness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finding Happiness

Harry smiled. He could not recall ever having felt so happy and at peace. He certainly never experienced this feeling in all the years he spent at the Dursley's. And even though things had been better since he came to Hogwarts, he had always felt a bit uneasy being thrust into a world he knew very little about. It did not help matters that everyone knew his story better than he seemed to know it himself.

He found himself reflecting on how he got to this point. It was never something he would have expected, even just a few months ago when they had started spending more time together. They always made each other laugh and each seemed to always understand the perspective of the other. There was a sense of realness to their friendship that he had never felt before, even with Ron and Hermione.

It didn't surprise him much that Ron quickly became jealous as Harry started to spend less time with them. It was certainly not the case that he valued the two of them on a different level, but there was just something so alluring that was present in this new friendship that he just could not shake. And he figured that Ron and Hermione could use some time alone together anyway - he did not think it was much of a secret that the two of them were crazy about each other. Well, maybe it was a secret, but one that only seemed to have been kept from the two of them.

Ron tried to frighten Harry with all sorts of ridiculous warnings. "I don't know if you can count on trustworthiness." "Do you want to get stabbed in the back?" "What's the ulterior motive here - you're being used!" And then of course there were the outright accusations. "Thanks for turning your back on the friends who have helped you through everything since you first came here." "If you don't like us anymore, you should just tell us instead of stringing us along."

If it was not for the fact that Ron seemed to believe everything he was saying, Harry would have just laughed it off. He knew better than to engage him in any sort of lengthy dialogue about any of it, but he could not just dismiss it, either. He explained to Ron that it had nothing to do with them, but that he was just spending some time with another friend. Ron would have been invited, but he had previously made it very clear that he did not want to be a part of it. Ron could not blame Harry for deciding to spend time with someone he called a friend and he thought it was unfair that he was supposed to determine his actions based on the list of people Ron liked and the other list of those he despised. That would be utterly ridiculous.

Hermione was much better about it, being the rational one of the group. Harry also suspected that she appreciated more time alone with Ron as she started to realize her feelings for him a bit more clearly. She would never voice her feelings because she was uncertain about how Ron would respond, but they were definitely there.

It certainly did not help matters that Ron got others involved in trying to get Harry to stop spending time with his new friends. Ginny, who was clearly smitten with Harry, became almost vile in the way she spoke to him, making her disapproval perfectly clear. She would try to sit as close to Harry as possible in the Common Room and he was fairly certain he saw her following him through the corridors one evening to see where he was going and with whom he was spending his time. He wanted to tell her to stop being a stalker, but he knew that would not go over too well and then he would have to deal with Ron going off about that, too.

Seamus and Dean took a less frightening approach and just teased Harry about the whole situation. There were chants about him sitting in a tree, jokes about what Harry did with his wand, and random teasing at every meal in the Great Hall. Harry minded this a bit less than the intensity he was experiencing from some of his other friends, but it got old very quickly. He just started ignoring them, but they were so amused by what they saw as their unmatchable wit, it took months before they started to lighten up a bit and leave him alone.

Fred and George even got in on the action, slipping prank items into his bag whenever they thought he was going to hang out with his friend from outside the Tower. He figured their actions were mostly motivated by their prankster nature and the fact that they wanted to test out their creations and did not really have much to do with any disapproval over the people with whom he spent his time. He could not help but laugh at all of the strange and curious prank items he was exposed to over the course of several months thanks to the twins.

Surprisingly, he did not feel any backlash from the members of other houses. He never did discern if this was because they were not aware or if they simply did not care. He figured it was a combination of the two, but he had expected that he would hear more people talking about it, more rumors in the corridors between classes, if the news had made its way around the school. Gossip was a hot commodity at Hogwarts and it seemed that no matter how great the supply, it could never seem to completely satisfy the demand. The fact that he did not seem to be the subject of gossip, perhaps for the first time since he arrived at the school, was a good sign that people had other things with which to occupy their fascinations.

It was after they had been hanging out for six months before things started to push the boundaries beyond friendship. After an evening of working on essays together, talking about the ridiculous things that always seemed to go on in their respective common rooms, and discussing some of the finer details of their pre-Hogwarts childhoods, Harry found himself compelled to go in for a kiss. He was not sure where exactly the compulsion came from and he did not seem to get any objections or a negative response, so they continued for almost ten minutes before stopping to think about what had just happened.

Harry was glad that things did not turn awkward. While neither one of them would ever have expected it, they had developed a relationship that seemed to them both to go beyond mere friendship. They cared deeply for each other, they were so comfortable around each other, and they now appeared to have a physical connection that they both agreed they could not shake. This would definitely make the list of school gossip if it ever got out, so they decided they would need to be very careful if they were going to continue exploring this new aspect of their relationship.

Things progressed from there at a pace that could easily be described as a bit slower than it would have if things were a bit more traditional - if their relationship had found itself in very different circumstances. They did not want to push things too quickly to at least try to preserve their friendship should something more not work out. At the same time, they wanted to make sure that they were careful not to be caught in compromising position. Neither of them would be ashamed of each other, but taking the taunting and the teasing from their fellow classmates would make for a very painful and annoying experience for the remainder of their time at the school.

They spent some time together over the summer holidays, but they had to keep that a secret, too. Harry could never have told any of his friends where he was spending his time, and the family of his friend would have blown their top if they had even the slightest inkling. During this time, they felt a bit more free to be affectionate, surrounded primarily by Muggles who had no idea who they were. They knew they would never see any of them again, so there was no need to be as "careful" as they had to be at school. They were preparing to go back for their last year at Hogwarts and they considered the idea of being a public item when they went back for the start of term.

In the end, they decided it would be best to wait until after they were done with school to lift the veil over their relationship. They could make it another year and then if people wanted to judge them, they could do it on their own time and Harry would not have to see them every day, all week long. Their connection was strong, but they knew they needed to focus on their studies with few distractions if they hoped to do well on their NEWTs and get into their dream careers.

As they prepared to split for the remainder of their summer holidays, Harry posed a question he originally had planned to wait to ask. He was overjoyed to get an affirmative response and they started planning a small, intimate wedding ceremony for a week or two after the school year would end. They had some months to figure out how they were going to explain to family and friends and to whom they would be sending invitations.

Now that the day had come, Harry was the happiest he could ever remember. And he knew he was going to be happy for the rest of his life.

"Do you, Harry Potter, take Draco Malfoy to be your partner in love and life, from this day forward and as long as you both shall live?"

Harry grinned, a tear in his eye, as he faced the young man staring back at him. "I do. I most certainly do."


End file.
